HB56—the anti-immigration law signed by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley in June—has been in the spotlight for being the strictest immigration law bill passed in the United States, second only to Arizona’s SB 1070. Among the law’s notable aspects is the obligation that schools check students and parents’ immigration status and report back to the state legislature.
Section 28 of the bill indicates that “Every public elementary and secondary school in this state, at the time of enrollment in kindergarten or any grade in such school, shall determine whether the student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States…” Once the information is compiled, each school district will have to submit a report to the State Board of Education, which will transmit the information to the Legislature.
As specified by the law, the reports will be used to determine the number of “aliens believed to be unlawfully present in the United States enrolled at all primary and secondary public schools.” The law does not, however, ban students from enrolling in school and attending classes. This level of enforcement would contradict the 1982 in Pyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision that public schools cannot deny children education on the basis of their immigration status.
Organizations like the Federation for American Immigration Reform—a non-profit that supports tough immigration rules—argue that educating undocumented children represents the largest burden for taxpayers, costing government agencies $52 billion per year. This contrast with studies like the U.S. Business and Hispanic Integration: Expanding the Economic Contributions of Immigrants (2008) and Learning from Legalization: The Experience of IRCA-Era Mexicans in Los Angeles County (2011), which highlight the positive impact that educating immigrants has had in the past and continues to have on the U.S. economy.
Schools have expressed their concerns about HB56, particularly with respect to the requirement that school teachers enforce immigration policy as of September 1, 2011 when the law goes into effect. A report by the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum showed that local police are equally uneasy about their new immigration-related responsibilities. There is also concern that schools that report high numbers of undocumented immigrant children may lose federal funding. Another likely consequence of the law is that it will deter parents from enrolling their children in schools, limiting opportunity for undocumented children.
Lina Salazar works in the policy department at Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
